The 1983 Lau Kar-leung-produced martial arts epic "Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang" is famous in two key respects.
At the time of its release in 1983, the film marked the directorial debut of its star, Gordon Liu (credited here by his birth-name Chia-Hui Lui), who was by then already a firmly established kung-fu movie veteran who had appeared in over a dozen martial arts films since the 1970s.
While the film quickly became a kung-fu movie and grindhouse favorite, it also remained in relative obscurity (at least when compared to other Shaw Brothers Studio-produced martial arts films from the time). However, "Shaolin and Wu-Tang" gained renewed popular interest 10 years after its release because it was cited as a major source of inspiration for hip-hop music producer The RZA (born Robert Diggs), the co-founder and de-facto leader of rap super-group the Wu-Tang Clan, who derived their name from the film's title and released their ground-breaking debut album "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" in November of 1993. Dialogue samples from the English dub of "Shaolin and Wu-Tang" were featured prominently in the album's songs.
I have to admit that when I first saw "Shaolin and Wu-Tang" when I was in college, I'd checked out the film - a poor-quality bargain-bin full-screen DVD copy of the film, no less, which I still have - mainly because I'm a huge fan of the Wu-Tang Clan and martial arts movies, and I had wanted to see the classic that inspired it all. Until today, I had only seen the film once, which was that first time all the way back when I was in college. With hindsight and acquired knowledge over the years on my side, it is a much better film than I remember it.
The film has a plot that's really nothing new to the genre itself, but plays into some of the recurring lyrical themes of the Wu-Tang Clan's music. Yung-Kit (Liu) and Fung-Wu (Adam Cheng) are close friends who are also the top students at rival martial arts schools in the same city - Yung-Kit represents Shaolin Gong-fu and Fung-Wu trains in its off-shoot Wu-Tang Sword Style. The treacherous local Ching Lord (Johnny Wang) who oversees the city, is jealous of both schools and wants to learn both styles so that he can wipe them both out and rule the province unchallenged. His conspiracy sets in motion a series of events that eventually lead to the murder of Fung-Wu's master - turning him into a fugitive - and ultimately pitting him against his friend Yung-Kit, whom he blames for his master's death.
The film's plot is not terribly complex, but the behind-the-scenes machinations that turns close friends against each other is the source of "Shaolin and Wu-Tang's" character drama. And of course, there are also the fighting scenes, which are excellently staged and executed. The film opens with a much-touted, classic gong-fu training sequence, and there are also several more training scenes throughout the rest of the picture that have been compared to "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" (1978) - which also starred Gordon Liu - and some have said that the training scenes here surpass those in the former production. I have to disagree with that assessment. The training scenes in "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" make up that film's entire second act, and we're along for the journey of Gordon Liu's character as he makes his transformation from fugitive to gong-fu master. It's one of the rare times that you can truly identify with a character in a martial arts film. Unfortunately, I don't feel you really get that same emotional connection in "Shaolin and Wu-Tang" that you would have gotten from "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin," since this film's training scenes occur much later in the story and are only featured in brief montages.
"Shaolin and Wu-Tang" ends the way it's supposed to, with an epic gong-fu battle between former friends and their respective fighting styles, and then finally against the evil Ching Lord who originally turned them against each other.
It was nice to go back and once again see the film that inspired the legendary rap group who famously said to "Bring Da Ruckus."
7/10.
At the time of its release in 1983, the film marked the directorial debut of its star, Gordon Liu (credited here by his birth-name Chia-Hui Lui), who was by then already a firmly established kung-fu movie veteran who had appeared in over a dozen martial arts films since the 1970s.
While the film quickly became a kung-fu movie and grindhouse favorite, it also remained in relative obscurity (at least when compared to other Shaw Brothers Studio-produced martial arts films from the time). However, "Shaolin and Wu-Tang" gained renewed popular interest 10 years after its release because it was cited as a major source of inspiration for hip-hop music producer The RZA (born Robert Diggs), the co-founder and de-facto leader of rap super-group the Wu-Tang Clan, who derived their name from the film's title and released their ground-breaking debut album "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" in November of 1993. Dialogue samples from the English dub of "Shaolin and Wu-Tang" were featured prominently in the album's songs.
I have to admit that when I first saw "Shaolin and Wu-Tang" when I was in college, I'd checked out the film - a poor-quality bargain-bin full-screen DVD copy of the film, no less, which I still have - mainly because I'm a huge fan of the Wu-Tang Clan and martial arts movies, and I had wanted to see the classic that inspired it all. Until today, I had only seen the film once, which was that first time all the way back when I was in college. With hindsight and acquired knowledge over the years on my side, it is a much better film than I remember it.
The film has a plot that's really nothing new to the genre itself, but plays into some of the recurring lyrical themes of the Wu-Tang Clan's music. Yung-Kit (Liu) and Fung-Wu (Adam Cheng) are close friends who are also the top students at rival martial arts schools in the same city - Yung-Kit represents Shaolin Gong-fu and Fung-Wu trains in its off-shoot Wu-Tang Sword Style. The treacherous local Ching Lord (Johnny Wang) who oversees the city, is jealous of both schools and wants to learn both styles so that he can wipe them both out and rule the province unchallenged. His conspiracy sets in motion a series of events that eventually lead to the murder of Fung-Wu's master - turning him into a fugitive - and ultimately pitting him against his friend Yung-Kit, whom he blames for his master's death.
The film's plot is not terribly complex, but the behind-the-scenes machinations that turns close friends against each other is the source of "Shaolin and Wu-Tang's" character drama. And of course, there are also the fighting scenes, which are excellently staged and executed. The film opens with a much-touted, classic gong-fu training sequence, and there are also several more training scenes throughout the rest of the picture that have been compared to "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" (1978) - which also starred Gordon Liu - and some have said that the training scenes here surpass those in the former production. I have to disagree with that assessment. The training scenes in "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" make up that film's entire second act, and we're along for the journey of Gordon Liu's character as he makes his transformation from fugitive to gong-fu master. It's one of the rare times that you can truly identify with a character in a martial arts film. Unfortunately, I don't feel you really get that same emotional connection in "Shaolin and Wu-Tang" that you would have gotten from "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin," since this film's training scenes occur much later in the story and are only featured in brief montages.
"Shaolin and Wu-Tang" ends the way it's supposed to, with an epic gong-fu battle between former friends and their respective fighting styles, and then finally against the evil Ching Lord who originally turned them against each other.
It was nice to go back and once again see the film that inspired the legendary rap group who famously said to "Bring Da Ruckus."
7/10.